LEIDESDORF, MAX:

Austrian psychiatrist; born at Vienna June 27, 1818; died there Oct. 9, 1889; educated at the university of his native city (M.D. 1845). After studying for several years in the principal insane asylums of Italy, Germany, England, and France, he established himself as privat-docent at Vienna University (1856), and, later, held the following appointments: assistant professor of psychiatry (1864); chief physician of the insane department of the general hospital ("Allgemeines-Krankenhaus," 1872); and chief of the "Landesirrenanstalt"(1875). He resigned these positions in 1888.

Leidesdorf was one of the leading psychiatrists of his time. In 1876 he was called to Constantinople to examine the mental condition of the dethroned sultan Murad; and in 1886 he was asked by the crown of Austria to give an opinion as to the sanity of Louis II. of Bavaria. He was the author of: "Beiträge zur Diagnostik und Behandlung der Primären Formen des Irreseins," Krefeld, 1855; "Das Römerbad Tüffer in Steiermark," Vienna, 1857, "Compendium der Psychiatrie für Aerzte und Studirende," ib. 1860; "Pathologie und Therapie der Psychischen Krankheiten," Erlangen, 1860 (2d ed. 1865, and translated into Italian 1865); "Erläuterungen zur Irrenhausfrage Niederösterreichs," Vienna, 1868; "Psychiatrische Studien aus der Klinik Leidesdorf," ib. 1877; "Das Traumleben," ib. 1880.